Marriage – Because Emma Woodhouse is a self-declared successful matchmaker, she thinks she can control people’s lives. She tries to arrange marriages for Harriet Smith, Mr. Elton, Frank Churchill, and eventually even herself. The whole novel is about who likes who, who is going to marry who, and who is going to compromise their wants. In chapter 14 page 105, the narrator describes the change of feelings toward marriage that Emma has. “Now it so happened, that, in spite of Emma’s resolution of never marrying there was something in the name, in the idea, of Mr. Frank Churchill, which always interested her. She had frequently thought – especially since his father’s marriage with Miss Taylor [Emma’s friend and former governess] – that if she were to marry, he was the very person to suit her in age, character, and condition.”
Social status – A person’s social status was a big indicator of their past as well as their future. In the early 19th century it was improper to marry outside a person’s social class. In chapter 8, page 53, Emma states, “Mr. Martin is a very respectable young man, but I cannot admit him to be Harriet’s equal; and am rather surprised, indeed, that he should have ventured to address her.” A conflict in this story, though, is that not everyone knows their social status because they are unsure of their past. As Mr. Knightley points out on page 54, Harriet would benefit from marrying Robert Martin because “she is the natural daughter of nobody knows whom, with probably no settled provision at all, and certainly no respectable relations.”
Self-deception – Emma is convinced she is a wonderful matchmaker and superior to other characters. She occasionally boasts of her successful matches, such as in the quote on page 9, “And you have forgotten one matter of joy to me, and a very considerable one – that I made the match myself. I made the match, you know, four years ago; and to have it take place, and be proved right, when so many people said Mr. Weston would never marry again, may comfort me for anything.” She flirts with Frank Churchill because she thinks he’s in love with her, but the reader later finds out that he is actually in love with Harriet. In Mr. Churchill’s letter to Mrs. Weston on page 386 of chapter 50, he states, “Amiable and delightful as Miss Woodhouse is, she never gave me the idea of a young woman likely to be attached; and that she was perfectly free from any tendency to being attached to me, was as much my conviction as my wish.”
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Marriage – Because Emma Woodhouse is a self-declared successful matchmaker, she thinks she can control people’s lives. She tries to arrange marriages for Harriet Smith, Mr. Elton, Frank Churchill, and eventually even herself. The whole novel is about who likes who, who is going to marry who, and who is going to compromise their wants. In chapter 14 page 105, the narrator describes the change of feelings toward marriage that Emma has. “Now it so happened, that, in spite of Emma’s resolution of never marrying there was something in the name, in the idea, of Mr. Frank Churchill, which always interested her. She had frequently thought – especially since his father’s marriage with Miss Taylor [Emma’s friend and former governess] – that if she were to marry, he was the very person to suit her in age, character, and condition.”
Social status – A person’s social status was a big indicator of their past as well as their future. In the early 19th century it was improper to marry outside a person’s social class. In chapter 8, page 53, Emma states, “Mr. Martin is a very respectable young man, but I cannot admit him to be Harriet’s equal; and am rather surprised, indeed, that he should have ventured to address her.” A conflict in this story, though, is that not everyone knows their social status because they are unsure of their past. As Mr. Knightley points out on page 54, Harriet would benefit from marrying Robert Martin because “she is the natural daughter of nobody knows whom, with probably no settled provision at all, and certainly no respectable relations.”
Self-deception – Emma is convinced she is a wonderful matchmaker and superior to other characters. She occasionally boasts of her successful matches, such as in the quote on page 9, “And you have forgotten one matter of joy to me, and a very considerable one – that I made the match myself. I made the match, you know, four years ago; and to have it take place, and be proved right, when so many people said Mr. Weston would never marry again, may comfort me for anything.” She flirts with Frank Churchill because she thinks he’s in love with her, but the reader later finds out that he is actually in love with Harriet. In Mr. Churchill’s letter to Mrs. Weston on page 386 of chapter 50, he states, “Amiable and delightful as Miss Woodhouse is, she never gave me the idea of a young woman likely to be attached; and that she was perfectly free from any tendency to being attached to me, was as much my conviction as my wish.”
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